The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday provided more details on its "do not track" browser proposal, though it was met with skepticism by security experts at Symantec.

David Vladeck, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, told the House Energy and Commerce Committee that a "do not track" option would be a "more uniform and comprehensive consumer choice mechanism for online behavioral advertising" than the options currently available.

Joe Pasqua, vice president of research at Symantec, however, said the idea is "conceptually reasonable but technically difficult."

Vladeck appeared on Capitol Hill one day after the FTC unveiled a broad plan for online privacy, which included the "do not track" provision. Basically, it suggests that browser companies add a feature that allows users to surf the Web without having any of their activities tracked; no information sent to advertisers or data miners, for example.

At this point, the FTC plan is just a proposal and not enforceable. The agency is asking for stakeholders to submit comments on the plan by January, and it will issue a revised proposal sometime next year. The FTC said its ideas could be used as best practices as Congress considers online privacy legislation, however, which is why Vladeck appeared before the committee on Thursday.

"The most practical method of providing uniform choice for online behavioral advertising would likely involve placing a setting similar to a persistent cookie on a consumer's browser, and conveying that setting to sites that the browser visits, to signal whether or not the consumer wants to be tracked or receive targeted advertisements," Vladeck said. "To be effective, there must be an enforceable requirement that sites honor those choices."

Most browsers offer private browsing features, which do not track user activity, but Vladeck pushed for mechanisms that are "more clear, easy-to-locate, and effective."

If Congress does choose to take up the issue, Vladeck asked members to consider several issues: bills should not undermine online behavioral advertising entirely since some consumers do benefit from it; it would not operate like the "do not call" program since there is no persistent identifier for computers like phone numbers (IP addresses change); and the FTC should have the authority to enforce the legislation and impose civil penalties.

Also in attendance was Daniel Weitzner from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) within the Commerce Department. He acknowledged that users currently have the option to avoid tracking through private browsing features, and issued support for a "voluntary, multi‐stakeholder process, backed up, in the end, by
FTC enforcement of the privacy commitments made to consumers through such a system."

The Commerce Department's Internet Policy Task Force, meanwhile, will also "start to convene industry and consumer groups to discuss the next steps toward achieving voluntary agreements on implementation methods for a do‐not‐track requirement," Weitzner said.

Symantec's Pasqua, however, was doubtful. "We are unsure exactly how a Do-Not-Track mechanism would be all that different from the opt-out link currently offered by the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI)," he said. "Perhaps the most significant difference might be that the NAI includes only a limited number of companies, but a Do-Not-Track registry would presumably be universal."

"Our vision is for a future where individuals can voluntarily choose to obtain a secure, interoperable, and privacy-enhancing credential such as a smart identity card or a digital certificate on a cell phone, from a variety of public and private service providers, to authenticate themselves online for different types of transactions," Pasqua said.

Deciding what is intrusive is also an issue, he continued. "What one user considers excessive tracking might be completely reasonable to others."

Browser companies like Google, Microsoft, and Mozilla have all pledged to review the FTC's privacy plan and consider its suggestions.

About the Author

Before joining PCMag.com, Chloe covered financial IT for Incisive Media in NYC and technology policy for The National Journal's Technology Daily in Washington, DC. She has held internships at NBC's Meet the Press, washingtonpost.com, the Tate Gallery press office in London, Roll Call, and Congressional Quarterly. She graduated with a bachelor's deg... See Full Bio

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